Structural fire protection ensures the stability of structural elements (such as steel beams/columns or timber beams/columns) in a building in case of fire. This is achieved by applying adequate products onto the structural element, such as boards, paints or sprays.

A compartment is a defined space in a building, which limits the spread of fire and smoke. The size and number of compartments are defined in all national building codes – dependent on the floor area or volume and the amount of combustible materials in each level. Building codes differ from one country to another. Compartments are always vertical (fire rated floors/ceilings) and horizontal (fire rated walls). As all kind of services are required in such boxes certain openings are created, which then have to be protected again. An obvious and always visible protection is a fire door. But also where all other 1 services such as cables, pipes, ducts, etc. are running through a structure, the tightness of the compartment has to be ensured again by installing adequate penetration seals.

These penetration seals are mostly a combination of several products such as coatings, mortars, collars, wraps, sealants and back filling material, and here the key questions is how materials interact. At AK Fire we test full wall and ceiling systems with all of the potential service penetrations in situ.